This invention relates to novel polymeric polyamines and methods for their preparation, and more particularly the production of amino substituted polymeric polyols produced through the catalytic amination of polymers comprised of ethylenically unsaturated alcohols and copolymers of said alcohols and vinyl compounds. In another aspect the present invention provides novel polymeric polyamines having pendant amino groups or pendant aminomethyl groups through a one step Group VIII metal catalyzed amination process.
Known routes to the preparation of polymeric polyamines utilize multi-step process technology or involve relatively expensive starting materials such as ethyleneimine. These known processes normally provide polyamines having nitrogen incorporated into the backbone of the polymer as a secondary amine. Polymerization of unsaturated amines is in general an unsatisfactory and unsuccessful approach for producing polyamines resulting only in low molecular weight oligomers. Aminolysis of polyhydroxy, alcohol-containing materials has been described in the art. Such processes describe the degradative aminolysis of saccharides and starches to give predominantly low molecular weight nitrogen compounds, such as ethylene diamine, piperazines, and the like. It is also recognized that the substitution of hydroxyl functionality contained in commercial polymeric polyols by amine would be rather difficult to effect.
According to the invention, certain polyol polymers and copolymers thereof can be contacted with ammonia or amines under suitable reaction conditions such as Group VIII metal catalyzation, to give long chain polymeric polyamines. I have discovered that the amination of polymers of ethylenically unsaturated alcohols and copolymers of said alcohols and vinyl compounds is possible through the use of hydrogenation type catalysts, i.e. Group VIII metal catalysts.